Paladin of the Dead God

Isaac began by addressing the most pressing question.

“Have you been watching us from the Salt Desert?”

During the Dawn Army’s journey across the Salt Desert, they had often felt an unseen gaze upon them. The silhouette they had glimpsed from a distance matched Sadraza’s appearance before them.

Sadraza’s tentacles twisted and writhed restlessly as his eyes rolled in contemplation.

“…Yes. Living creatures are rare here. A group like yours hasn’t appeared since long ago, and they fled soon under the burning sun. I watched you because I didn’t know what you would do.”

“Why?” Isaac pressed.

“You are followers of the Lighthouse Keeper, aren’t you? I recognized it from your banners. I assumed you would try to kill me the moment you saw me. I needed to know exactly when and where you were headed, so I hid.”

At that, Aidan approached and whispered to Isaac.

“It seems genuine. When we tried to open this door, he resisted, trying to hold it closed. If he meant to attack us, he would have flung the door open and struck first.”

Isaac agreed, though not just due to Aidan’s logic. Despite Sadraza’s fearsome appearance, his presence seemed frail and harmless.

It was as though, beneath the cursed sun, he had exhausted himself solely in the struggle to survive, lacking the power to even perform basic miracles. This underwhelming revelation about the supposed “monster” made Isaac sigh with disappointment.

Yet, Isaac wasn’t ready to relax his guard. In this catastrophic environment where abominable beings frequently crossed into Miarma, only the strong could survive.

‘He’s hiding something.’

“Alright, Sadraza. What have you been doing here?”

“I… At first, my only goal was survival. But as I grew confident in my survival, I began searching for a way to release the god trapped beneath the sea.”

Aidan, who had been carefully interpreting Sadraza’s words, looked startled at the mention of “releasing a god.”

Isaac, also on edge, pressed further.

“Did you find a way?”

Sadraza hesitated, his tentacles twitching as he glanced warily at the protective wards and sealing rituals Aidan had prepared. Finally, he replied cautiously.

“…I cannot tell you.”

Seeing Isaac’s hardened expression, he quickly added in his defense.

“Aren’t you a follower of the Lighthouse Keeper? It was the Lighthouse Keeper who brought ruin to our order, our empire, and this city. How could I reveal the means to summon the Caller to someone like that?”

The “Caller” was one of the titles used to refer to the Salt Council’s god. Isaac remembered this term from his studies on the beliefs of the Salt Council, so he understood Sadraza’s wariness. With a sigh and a furrowed brow, he continued. Ṟ�

“…You know, my companion here represents the Salt Council’s successors. Though the name and customs have changed, they still strive to release the Caller from the sea. I promised to help him with that mission.”

Sadraza blinked in surprise, staring at Isaac. Isaac waited until the other Elil knights had withdrawn to a safe distance, then spoke softly.

“And as for this idea that I serve the Lighthouse Keeper, I follow the order of the Codex of Light, not the Keeper himself. I don’t owe him my loyalty.”

It was a subtle way of distancing himself from the Lighthouse Keeper—almost a heretical statement, given how closely the Codex’s interpretation was tied to the Keeper. Isaac hoped Sadraza would pick up on the nuance.

Sadraza stared at him intently before asking, “The Codex of Light?”

His reaction suggested he was hearing of it for the first time.

“So, that’s the name he eventually gave it? Fitting for him. Still convinced they’re subject to order and rules, it seems.”

The tone of Sadraza’s words gave Isaac an uncanny feeling, as if Sadraza had once known the Lighthouse Keeper personally.

It made sense. If he had been present when Miarma fell a thousand years ago and held the rank of high priest, he might have even conversed with the Keeper.

Encountering such a being—one whose body burned like the sacred light—was rare even in the world a millennium ago.

‘It feels almost like speaking to an angel.’

If Sadraza were an angel, he would likely be the world’s weakest angel.

Isaac decided to use his final card to win Sadraza’s trust.

He pulled out The Homeland of the Drifter (Rare).

[A model ship’s bow will always point towards the sea from which the bottled water was originally collected.]

As Isaac produced the relic from Urbansus, Sadraza’s eyes widened, recognizing the holy aura it emitted.

“You must know what Amundalas is if you’re a priest. This relic was taken from Urbansus. Though I don’t fully understand its nature, the water inside it is said to have been drawn from the sea off Miarma three years in the future. Amundalas entrusted this to me as a token of faith.”

One way or another, it hinted that water would return to Miarma.

Isaac couldn’t yet fathom the details, but he knew he’d be involved in that future event. Sadraza reached out with trembling tentacles, attempting to touch *The Homeland of the Drifter*, but Isaac pulled it back, his hand brushing empty air.

“I think I’ve shown enough trust… Now it’s your turn to show me yours.”

Sadraza let out a quiet groan. Realizing he had no choice but to trust Isaac, he finally whispered the secret he had guarded for a thousand years.

“The Caller’s divine essence remains in the underground chamber within this pyramid.”

***

The pyramid was the most common temple form in this desert region, ranging from small shrines to colossal royal tombs.

The Holy Land of Lua was said to contain the largest pyramid ever built. Similarly, the “fisherman’s home” in which they now stood was constructed as the “Temple of the Land” for the Caller.

“To be precise, this place connects to the Sea Temple, built beneath the ocean. Below here lies a staircase descending deep underground, leading through an underwater cave to the sea. It was once a direct passageway to the Sea Temple.”

Sadraza quietly continued his explanation of the forgotten ancient order.

“Only those called ‘Swim-Bladdered,’ the high priests permitted to breathe underwater, were allowed to pass along this ‘Salt Path.’ Through it, we could directly commune with the divine presence in the Sea Temple and receive sacred oracles.”

Then the disaster struck. Or rather, they had brought it upon themselves.

The followers of the Sea Cult had been in competition with a neighboring nation that worshipped a powerful ancient god. When a troublemaker from that nation named Luaddin arrived in Miarma with his followers, the cult made the fateful choice to support him fully.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“We had agreed to assist him. But for some reason, the captain who was supposed to lead the fleet committed sabotage… infuriating Luadin, who cursed our city and dried up the sea.”

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